Novak Djokovic set to break another Roger Federer record after equalling Swiss Maestro's milestone
07/22/2024 08:34 AM
Novak Djokovic's march through the record books shows no sign of slowing down quite yet – with the Serbian set to break another record within the next week.
There are few records in the men's game that Djokovic does not have ownership of, with his 24 Grand Slam singles titles and 428 weeks as world No 1 likely to remain unpassable for the foreseeable future.
Many of the records he has broken – including weeks at world No 1 – were previously held by Roger Federer, himself an icon of the men's game and one of the best to pick up a racket.
But the Swiss maestro faces being usurped by Djokovic in another key milestone over the next week.
Federer, who officially hung up his racket in 2022 after a last professional match the previous year, amassed a staggering 750 weeks inside the top three of the ATP Rankings throughout his career.
That included 310 weeks as No 1, though having already taken that record, Djokovic has now drawn level with his 750th week inside the top three.
Currently the world No 2, behind Italy's Jannik Sinner, Monday marked the Serbian's 750th week, and he'll take outright hold of that record next Monday with week No 751.
Unsurprisingly, it is Rafael Nadal who sits in third, with 686 weeks inside the ATP's top three.
However, by distancing himself from Nadal further and moving ahead of Federer, Djokovic may have strengthened his case to be considered the greatest male player of all time.
Twenty-time major champion Federer may not be too bothered by losing the record, however, expressing his wish during his Twelve Final Days press tour that Djokovic would continue to "smash all the records".
World No 2 Djokovic is guaranteed to break the record next Monday and will add a few weeks to it across the summer.
However, he does have some pressure to maintain his top-three status throughout the rest of the year.
The Serbian has not won a title in 2024 but has four big crowns to defend before the end of the season in November.
He will defend his Cincinnati Open title in August, before the defence of his US Open crown at the end of the month – a total of 3,000 points on his ranking.
Late in the season, he has his Paris Masters and ATP Finals titles to defend, and will likely need to improve on his displays so far this season.
Djokovic is not too far ahead of world No 3 Carlos Alcaraz in the ATP Rankings, with the Spaniard having no titles to defend throughout the season.
He will also need to hold off world No 4 Alexander Zverev and world No 5 Daniil Medvedev, both of whom are currently above him in the ATP Race to Turin.
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